Age of Rifles FAQ #6

	If you have had problems with the sound in Rifles, or if you
have experienced crashes on starting the game, your problem is most 
likely an improper sound initialization due to a problem with the 
autodetect feature in the sound installation utility shipped with the 
game. This is particularly true if you have an Ensoniq Soundscape 
card, but there are a couple of other cards out there with similar tricky 
setups.  
 
	The following has worked for a lot of folks with sound 
problems, including sound related crashes: 
 
	1) If you use Win 95, DO NOT REBOOT TO DOS, instead, 
use a DOS window from a desktop shortcut. This is very important. 
These days many sound cards are set up by software rather than by 
jumpers. On quite a few systems (mine, for example), the cards are 
configured differently depending upon whether you are running from 
a desktop shortcut or from a "hard" DOS prompt (a DOS reboot). 
One good way to get this DOS window is STARTBUTTON/PROGRAMS/MS-DOS PROMPT.
 
	2) From the command line (DOS, or DOS window) run 
SOUND.EXE.  
 
	3) When you are given the option, select "skip auto 
detection..." Do _not_ use the autodetect feature. It does not work with 
some cards. Why? I don't know, but the sound installer is not my work 
so there isn't much I can do about it. 
 
	4) Manually select the appropriate settings for your sound 
card as the installer presents them. Try the settings it offers first. 
Oddly enough, in most cases these settings will be correct even though 
the global autodetect won't work. 
 
	5a) If you are using DOS, you should be finished. Test the 
game, returning to alternate settings in the sound installer until you 
find a set that works properly. (In many cases, these settings can be 
found in a rather cryptic line in your autoexec.bat file.) 
 
	5b) If you are using Win95, set up a desktop shortcut to 
Rifles.exe. In properties, set: close on exit, full screen, and disable 
screen saver. Leave everything else at default settings. Test the game, 
returning to alternate settings in the sound installer until you find a set 
that works properly. 

	If you have any problems after updating the game to v1.4, they may
be due to a mistake in application of the update. How can you tell if this 
is the problem? There should be no *.PCX, *.LBM, *.SHP, or *.FNT files in 
your Rifles directory. Delete any such files to free up disk space, the 
reapply the update per the instructions on SSI's update page.
 
	Two more hints for Win95 users - particularly for those who 
upgraded their systems from DOS or Win3.x:  
 
  1)Back up your config.sys and autoexec.bat files. Then open them 
in the editor in a DOS window and comment out _everything_ but 
"lastdrive", "path", and "set" statements. When you are finished, save 
the modified files, exit, and "restart" the computer. If any of the lines 
you commented out were device drivers, there is at least a 50/50 
chance that your system will now run _all_ applications more stably 
than it did before you modified your startup files. In fact, some Win95 
books advocate _deleting_ the config.sys and autoexec.bat files 
completely for best system performance. 
 
	2)If you have installed the Win 95 "Plus Pack" System Agent, 
make sure it is _off_ before playing Rifles or any other DOS app. 
Frankly, given my hideous experiences with System Agent, I suggest 
you uninstall it. That's what I did after it fragged the FATs on two 
hard drives.

Norm Koger 2.0 
 
October 30th, 1996.
Modified August 25th, 1997.